E
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Guest
From his website:
The Indy 500 goes green today and for the first time in the last four years I am not in the field. It is well known that I put an Indianapolis 500 victory near the top of my list of goals, and even though I am not there today I still have a strong desire to win that race.
Because of that, I have gotten a lot of questions this week in Charlotte about things going on in Indianapolis, and yesterday an Associated Press reporter asked me about Danica Patrick, the driver that seems to be making all the news in Indy and keeping the great race on the front page of every paper in the world, and my comments have been widely misinterpreted.
Danica is getting all the headlines for good reason. First and foremost, Danica is a talented race car driver. She also happens to be the only female in the field, and almost certainly has the best chance of any female in history to win the race.
The reporter asked me to comment on Danica, and I proceeded to tell her what a good job she is doing in the Rahal Letterman Racing car, and that I felt she was a talented driver with a good chance to win Indy – something I haven’t been able to do in 10 attempts. I also told the reporter that Danica – or anyone else her size (approx. 100 pounds) – has an advantage on any driver that weighs more than her because of the way the rules are written in the IRL. She should and will take advantage of this rule.
In the IRL, a car must weigh a minimum of 1,525 pounds, excluding driver. The IRL doesn’t account for driver weight as NASCAR and most other major racing series do. Therefore, if two equally skilled drivers, with two equally prepared and capable race cars compete against one another, the lighter driver will have a clear advantage. It’s simply physics.
For example, I am almost 200 pounds, and Danica is only 100 pounds. In a 1,525 pound race car, the 100 pound differential is 7.5 percent of the total weight of the car as it sits on the grid. NASCAR has rules to counteract drivers that are significantly lighter than others, but in the IRL they don’t account for the weight of the driver which is a huge advantage for talented small drivers.
Jeff Gordon is probably 50 pounds lighter than me, but NASCAR “levels” the playing field by making the 24 car add weight to his chassis so that bigger guys like me, Dale Jarrett, Michael Waltrip, etc., aren’t at an unfair advantage.
Imagine a 200 pound father racing his 80 pound 10-year-old child in a go kart at the local track. Assuming the karts are the same weight and horsepower, the 10-year-old will whip dad simply because he is giving up a 120 pound weight advantage. However, if the 10-year-old can’t drive, the weight advantage won’t apply. But in the case of Danica, she is capable and this weight advantage does apply.
Whether it’s Dan Patrick or Danica Patrick we’re talking about, it’s a weight issue, not a gender issue. Every year I run Indy I drop as much weight as possible so I don’t have to carry extra weight in my car. Helio Castroneves and Dan Wheldon weigh a lot less than a person my size, and they will tell you they have an advantage also on some other drivers.
What started as my opinion that the IRL should look at doing things as NASCAR does in this department became “Robby Gordon thinks Danica Patrick is only fast at Indianapolis because she is half my size.”
That is not what I said.
I think Danica Patrick is fast at Indy because she is a good driver driving for the defending Indianapolis 500 winning team. If she wins it will be great for the IRL and for motorsports as a whole. But when the day comes that I get to compete at Indy again, I hope that the IRL will take the driver’s weight into consideration – if not, I’m going on a diet, but I don’t think I can loose the 100 pounds I would be looking for.
The Indy 500 goes green today and for the first time in the last four years I am not in the field. It is well known that I put an Indianapolis 500 victory near the top of my list of goals, and even though I am not there today I still have a strong desire to win that race.
Because of that, I have gotten a lot of questions this week in Charlotte about things going on in Indianapolis, and yesterday an Associated Press reporter asked me about Danica Patrick, the driver that seems to be making all the news in Indy and keeping the great race on the front page of every paper in the world, and my comments have been widely misinterpreted.
Danica is getting all the headlines for good reason. First and foremost, Danica is a talented race car driver. She also happens to be the only female in the field, and almost certainly has the best chance of any female in history to win the race.
The reporter asked me to comment on Danica, and I proceeded to tell her what a good job she is doing in the Rahal Letterman Racing car, and that I felt she was a talented driver with a good chance to win Indy – something I haven’t been able to do in 10 attempts. I also told the reporter that Danica – or anyone else her size (approx. 100 pounds) – has an advantage on any driver that weighs more than her because of the way the rules are written in the IRL. She should and will take advantage of this rule.
In the IRL, a car must weigh a minimum of 1,525 pounds, excluding driver. The IRL doesn’t account for driver weight as NASCAR and most other major racing series do. Therefore, if two equally skilled drivers, with two equally prepared and capable race cars compete against one another, the lighter driver will have a clear advantage. It’s simply physics.
For example, I am almost 200 pounds, and Danica is only 100 pounds. In a 1,525 pound race car, the 100 pound differential is 7.5 percent of the total weight of the car as it sits on the grid. NASCAR has rules to counteract drivers that are significantly lighter than others, but in the IRL they don’t account for the weight of the driver which is a huge advantage for talented small drivers.
Jeff Gordon is probably 50 pounds lighter than me, but NASCAR “levels” the playing field by making the 24 car add weight to his chassis so that bigger guys like me, Dale Jarrett, Michael Waltrip, etc., aren’t at an unfair advantage.
Imagine a 200 pound father racing his 80 pound 10-year-old child in a go kart at the local track. Assuming the karts are the same weight and horsepower, the 10-year-old will whip dad simply because he is giving up a 120 pound weight advantage. However, if the 10-year-old can’t drive, the weight advantage won’t apply. But in the case of Danica, she is capable and this weight advantage does apply.
Whether it’s Dan Patrick or Danica Patrick we’re talking about, it’s a weight issue, not a gender issue. Every year I run Indy I drop as much weight as possible so I don’t have to carry extra weight in my car. Helio Castroneves and Dan Wheldon weigh a lot less than a person my size, and they will tell you they have an advantage also on some other drivers.
What started as my opinion that the IRL should look at doing things as NASCAR does in this department became “Robby Gordon thinks Danica Patrick is only fast at Indianapolis because she is half my size.”
That is not what I said.
I think Danica Patrick is fast at Indy because she is a good driver driving for the defending Indianapolis 500 winning team. If she wins it will be great for the IRL and for motorsports as a whole. But when the day comes that I get to compete at Indy again, I hope that the IRL will take the driver’s weight into consideration – if not, I’m going on a diet, but I don’t think I can loose the 100 pounds I would be looking for.
